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P4 Server Administration Documentation | 2025.2

# Windows services and servers

The terms Perforce Service and `p4d` refer to the P4 Server that manages depot files and the associated metadata for P4 clients, such as P4V. The `p4s.exe` service and the `p4d.exe` Server are copies of the same executable. The copies are identical except for the filenames.

p4s service | p4d Server
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`Perforce` is the service name that underlies the display name. As of 2025.1, by default, `p4s.exe` starts at boot time as a Windows service with `Helix Core Server` as the service display name. | A user can manually invoke `p4d.exe` from a command prompt to obtain a Server process.
The Windows `LocalSystem` account owns `P4ROOT` and the librarian A subsystem of the server that stores, manages, and provides the archive files to other subsystems of the server. See also 'archive files'. files that the service manages. The librarian files are accessible only to a user with Windows `Administrator` access. To allow the service to run under a regular user account, make sure that the user can read and write to the registry keys and access the directory structure under `P4ROOT`. See the Perforce Knowledge Base article, Changing the user account the Windows service runs under. | The `P4ROOT` and librarian files are accessible only to the user who invoked `p4d.exe` from the command prompt.

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